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A COUNTRY CASTLE
written by NICOLA SHIPWAY
“In one of the towers, original images of dhows have been preserved�/p>

fit for a prince
Cannons and coconuts

If Bait Nu’man were kitted out with air conditioning, a working kitchen and a swimming pool, it would be a country house worthy of a prince. Surrounded by date plantations and within view of the sea, this elegant fortified mansion is also easily accessible from the capital, lying just beyond the Barka roundabout, making it ideally placed for city-dwellers intent on a rustic half-day trip out of Muscat.
Bait Nu’man was built in the 17th century, though its two towers were added later. A country house for the Ya’ariba Imam Saif bin Sultan (who died in 1711), it was used more as a rest house by one of its subsequent owners, Imam Ahmed bin Sa’id (1749�783), on account of its location, midway between Mutrah and Rustaq, the then capital. In the 20th century the building fell into disrepair. Prior to its restoration in 1990 it existed only as a shell, having been left empty for nearly a quarter of a century.
The resident tour guide, Ibrahim Sabeel Murd al Zadjaly, has worked at Bait Nu’man since it opened to the public in 1991. He prefers
his charge to be described as a husn or castle rather than a house, and certainly the positioning of the towers, at diagonally opposite corners of the building, recalls the layout of Jabrin Castle. Bait Nu’man also possessed a total of nine cannons.

In the detail
Things to look out for

The castle is a sturdy, three-storey building set within a courtyard planted with tamarinds. Beyond the enclosure are the remnants of Imam Saif bin Sultan’s vast plantation �according to Paolo M Costa in The Journal of Oman Studies (volume eight), the Imam planted 30,000 young date palms and 6,000 coconut trees. The only entrance to the building is via a north-facing door, which gives
on to a hall that leads to guards�quarters, rooms for bathing and
washing (water was channelled into the castle via an underground falaj system), a date storeroom and a women’s prison, which even during the day is dark as a crypt. Bait Nu’man has no kitchen �food was prepared in a small room, today converted into Ibrahim’s office, built into one corner of the outer courtyard wall.
The staircase to the first floor reveals the family’s living quarters,
including a gentlemen’s majlis and prayer room, complete with mihrab; and a bedroom, equipped with an old Omani four-poster bed, which has a trap door that allowed water to be hauled up from the bathroom below. The third floor is the terraced roof of the castle, providing access to the towers (one complete with a secret escape route), and a room used by the resident Imam during the hot season. According to Ibrahim, this room’s system of adjacent large and minuscule windows rendered the space cool in summer and warm in winter.

Much of the charm of Bait Nu’man lies in its feeling of intimacy. In one of the towers for instance, original images of dhows have been preserved, the pictures probably scratched into the plaster by sentries positioned with a view of the sea. The Imam’s
living quarters are particularly evocative, furnished with cushions and pottery, the walls studded with niches and patterned with mouldings, in marked contrast to the bare walls of the ground floor. In the majlis-cum-prayer room is a camel’s shoulder blade etched with calligraphy, a bone that Ibrahim says was used for writing and also for carrying messages (the messenger would tuck the shoulder blade into his belt for the duration of his journey). In this room too is access to the architectural element described by Paolo Costa as “probably the most typical and ubiquitous feature of the traditional architecture in Oman��the opening above the main door. It had a dual purpose, according to Costa. Inmates on the first floor could pour boiling oil through the opening on to attackers below attempting to enter the castle; and water could also be thrown through the opening on to a fire lit by enemies to burn the door. Bait Nu’man (also spelt Naa’man and Nau’man) is signposted off the main road after the Barka roundabout; follow the track towards the sea until the castle appears on the left. Admission is free. The castle is open Sunday to Thursday, 8.30am�.30pm, through the year, but bear in mind that it has no air conditioning �despite the 1.5m-thick walls and brilliant ventilation, courtesy of the profusion of windows and arrow slits, exploring the castle can be hot work.